Precious Memories

Happy Saturday evening. We have a winter weather advisory for tonight and tomorrow. While we are visiting with my FIL, I am praying that we will make it home tomorrow without incident. I hate driving in ice and snow. My favorite thing to do is to watch it snow but from inside a warm house with no place to go. So we'll see what tomorrow will bring.
Today we had to make a visit to a funeral home for a friend's wife. I made a card for him and I think it turned out really nice.

The image is from a set that I won as blog candy. No where on the set does it say what company the set is form. Ay ideas? I'd love to give credit. The sentiment is from the Sympathy Set and since I am not at home I am drawing blank on the company. I'll update when I get home tomorrow. The three butterflies are dies and I am really having a senior moment here. I'll update that when I get home too. The background embossing is with the Victoria embossing folder. (At least I remembered that!) I used the Tuesday Morning Sketches for my inspiration.

I am entering these challenges:

• Sentimental Sunday: anything goes
•  Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch
• Hiding in my Craftroom: freestyle

I hope my memory comes back LOL! I promise to update tomorrow when I get home and settled. Thanks for stopping by. If you are in the path of Linus please stay safe. Happy weekend!

Donna

I Want Ewe Valentine

Happy Thursday! Almost time for the weekend. I always like the weekend! At work they started a new initiative today to help us get away from our desks and move more during the day. Of course most of my work is in front a computer so if I am moving I'm probably not working. LOL! But the program is called Climb IU (Indiana University) and we are supposed to climb 56 sets of stairs in three weeks. I work in a building that has 8 floors and and my office is on the 8th floor. So far today I have climbed 54 sets of stairs. I have no doubt that I will get 2 more sets in before the day is through. It's not hard for me to walk steps each day. The weekends will be a little different since there is only one set of stairs at our house. But we'll see how it goes.
My card tonight is a fun one for Valentine's Day. I think it turned out really cute!

The image is from Bugaboo Digital Stamps. The stamps and sentiment come together. I colored the image with Copic markers and cut it out with a Spellbinder's square die. I added the punched corners from a Stampin' Up! punch. The border I cut from an MFT Dainty Lace die and I embossed the yellow with D'vine Swirls embossing folder. The sentiment is punched with an ekSuccess punch. The heart background paper is from the Paper Studio. I used the Stella sketch for my card.

I am entering this card into these challenges:

• Bugaboo Stella Sketch: sketch
• CRAFT challenge: Valentine's Day
• Creative Knockouts: animal antics
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty challenge: anything goes
• Pile it On: hearts and/or flowers

We have snow predicted this weekend. Of course we do, I have Girl Scout Cookie delivery on Monday and it will be cold and snowy for that for sure. I better get my rest this weekend. Stay safe and warm. Thanks for dropping in!

Donna

Spring Will Come

It's almost February and I guess I am hoping that groundhog will say spring is right around the corner. That may not be the case since Sunday they are predicting snow for us. But tonight I was thinking about spring when I made this card.

I used an image from From the Heart Stamps called Spring Medley. The image is colored with Copic markers. I used the sketch from From the Heart challenge, a sketch with a twist. I just used the sketch.

I used some glitter paper against the dark purple background that was embossed with the Garden Flowers embossing folder. I used a Fiskar's border punch for the flower border.

I am entering these challenges:

• From the Heart Sketch with a Twist: sketch
• Simon Says challenge: anything goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge: anything goes

Half the week down and two more days of work. As usual I am looking forward to the weekend. Hope your week s going well and crafting is in your weekend plans. Blessings to you my fiends!

Donna

Warm Winter Wishes

This card goes out to all those people on the east coast buried under snow or without power. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Here's a card for you all.

I love how this one turned out. The black layers just make everything pop. The image is from Bugaboo digital stamps colored with Copic markers. The sentiment is from Gina K and embossed with fine black embossing powder. I used scraps from my scrap box. The red layer is embossed with swiss dots. I die cut a Spellbinder's pendant to back the image.
I am entering these challenges:

• Bugaboo: January Photo Inspiration
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Sweet Sunday Sketch: sketch
• Sentimental Sunday: anything goes

Thanks for stopping by today. Stay safe and warm.

Donna

Did You Say 2 for 1?

First, let me say before I forget, that all of my East Coast friends are on my mind tonight. I'll be praying for you all as the storm moves through. My son usually is in Boston but he's away on another assignment for work. I talked with his girlfriend this evening. She is safe and warm and not planning on going anywhere. I hope you too stay safe and warm if you are in the path of the storm.

Tonight I have two cards for you. It's not often that I have extras to post but I seem to have a bunch that I haven't posted lately. I guess I've been putting more time into my crafting and I'll have any easier time getting my birthday cards out next month. LOL! The first one is a winter card that I made to send to a friend. Since my MIL passed away right before Christmas I didn't get all my Christmas cards out, so I'm trying to play a little catch up and send out some winter cards to those I missed.

The image and sentiment is from the free stamp of the month from DeeDee's Digis.  Anyone can grab this one this month. I tried for a monochromatic look; well almost. Two different paper from my scrap box and a snowman winter ribbon. I die cut the image with Spellbinder's Inverted Circles and then added the sentiment. I used the Paper Players Sketch.

I am entering my card into these challenges:

• DeeDee's Stamp of the Month: use the stamp of the month set
• The Paper Players: sketch

Now for the second:

This was the original card I made for the Outlawz CAS challenge this week. (It's anything goes and it's easy to play along.) But the first one had a lot of glue marks on. I made a second one and had a stray coloring mark, so I finally made an entirely different card for the challenge. I've cleaned these up a bit so I can use them though. I used the ek Success punch and inlaid the pieces together in different color combinations. I stamped the envelope and sentiment from the Gina K stamp set. And to finish it off I have these little sparkly hearts that I won in a blog candy and I sprinkled them around the card.
I am entering these challenges:

• Simon Says challenge: have a heart
• Hiding in my Craft Room: any holiday
• Sentimental Sunday: anything goes

Well, that's finally it for tonight. It was much longer than I usually go on. Hope your week is off to a great start. Be safe and warm wherever you are.

Hugs,

Donna

Celebrate

Back again for another card. If you are looking for the Outlawz CAS challenge just scroll down. I had some time to play this afternoon so I worked on a card for the From the Heart Sketch Challenge.

And here's my card:

My image and sentiment is from From the Heart stamps called Flappy Birthday Birdbrain. Just love Birdbrain. There was a twist to the challenge that was a color combination but I chose not to do that. The image is colored with Copics and the sentiment is die cut from Spellbinders tag die. The birthday gift paper is from my scrap box. That's it. Easy Peasy. Of course I am entering this into the From the Heart Sketch Challenge.
Thanks for stopping by today. Hope your weekend has been wonderful!

Donna

O'fish'ally Retired

Happy Sunday! It's time for another challenge over at the Outlawz CAS group. This week it's so easy! Anything goes in the CAS style. For my card I made a retirement card for a friend who is retiring.

My fish is from Elizabeth Dulemba's coloring pages. I colored it with Copics. The sentiment is from Create with TLC. I die cut the sentiment with a tag die from a company that is no more. The waves were made with the Spellbinder's double scallop border die cut into pieces. I used some sequins for bubbles.

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you have some time to craft this week to play along at the Outlawz CAS group. I hope to be back with more cards today. I am looking for some crafting time after I clean up my space. Things need to be put away so I can find them again. LOL!

Hugs,
Donna

Still Hot

Happy weekend! So glad it's Friday. I have the weekend to myself. We are having friends over tomorrow evening for dinner and to play cards. I have some cleaning and shopping to do but I am looking forward to crafting time. I did get one card finished tonight.

It's another Bugaboo image! Stella! I think she's a hoot. I colored her up with Copics and inked the Spellbinders octagon die cut with blue. The sentiment I cut from a Spellbinder's tag die and embellished it with red star brads. I embossed the yellow edges with a What's my Type embossing edge folder. The background papers are just scraps from my scrap box.

I ma entering these challenges:

• Bugaboo 5th Birthday challenge: humor me
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Cut it Up challenge: embossing and die cut

There's still time to play along at the Bugaboo 5th Birthday Party. Hope you get some crafty time to play along.

I hope your weekend is awesome. Since there won't be football on much longer I'll have more crafty time. Stay warm and have fun!

Donna

Monster Hearts

My card tonight is somewhat out of my comfort area not because of the technique but because of the image. I usually don't do monsters (I'm more of a flowers kind of girl). I thought Tom's nephew would like this for a Valentine.

The card base is cream colored.The monster is from Bugaboo Digital Stamps.  I colored him with Copics and added the Gina K sentiment. The background paper is from Paper Studio and called Doodled Hearts. I added the three heart embellishments in the colors that I colored the monster. Quick and easy.
The colors for this challenge come from the Bugaboo challenge:

I am entering these challenges:

• Bugaboo 5th Birthday challenge: colors
• Simon Says: have a heart
• Penny's Paper-Crafty challenge: anything goes
• Sweet Stamps: hearts

Thanks so much for stopping by tonight. I hope you get a chance to play along with Bugaboo's Birthday fun!

Happy Hump Day! Enjoy the down side of the week!

Donna

Clowning Around

Another BEAUTIFUL day here. I went for a long walk at lunch time. The sunshine was awesome! It is January so it won't last for long but I was thrilled to get out while I could. Tonight I finished a card for another challenge for the Bugaboo Birthday Bash. Here's the inspiration picture for the challenge.

And here's the card I made.

The image is from Bugaboo Digital Stamps. I used a red card stock for the base and a background layer of green. The flowered paper is from Paper Studio. I cut the image from Lawn Fawn Stitched Banners, colored with Bic and Copic markers. The embellishments are star brads. The sentiment is from Hero Arts and I added a star clip (Found at Target's Dollar Bin). The card is based off the Tuesday Morning Sketch challenge.

I am entering this into these challenges:

• Bugaboo 5th birthday challenge: picture inspiration
• Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

I hope you have a chance to join in on the fun of the Bugaboo Birthday challenges. Check them out!

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope your week is going well. 

Donna

A Bugaboo Sketch

I am having fun playing along with Bugaboo's 5th birthday party. Today I worked on the sketch challenge.

Here's my card from the sketch:

I love the characters that Bugaboo have. Gus is one of my favorites. This birthday card is for my oldest brother. He used to call my Dad "old fart" all the time. Now it's his turn. He's also a veteran of the VietNam war so I decided to make the card red, white and blue. The image and sentiment are from Bugaboo Stamps colored with Copic markers. The image is backed with Spellbinder's Beaded Ovals. The sentiment is backed with Spellbinder's Inverted Circles. I added some birthday candles cut from a cake image from Create with TLC. The star paper was from my stash and I am not sure where it came from but I do think that it's digital paper.

I am entering these challenges:

• Bugaboo 5th birthday challenge: sketch
• Simon Says challenge: it's a guy thing
• Party Time Tuesday: anything goes

I hope you have a chance to play along with the Bugaboo challenges. Lots of fun!

So since today was Martin Luther King Day, I worked at a Girl Scout event to bring the girls in to make our community a better place. I helped the girls make woven heart baskets that were given to Meals on Wheels with a  little candy in it to be given to seniors when meals are delivered. But there were other projects too that the girls did to help the community. They rotated through the projects. It was great fun! I hope you made the world a better place today too. Have a wonderful week! Thanks for stopping by!

Donna

Bugaboo's 5th Birthday

Did you know that Bugaboo is turning 5 and they're having a Par-tee!

Lots of fun challenges this week. I love Bugaboo images and I have many of their images because they have a Friday Freebie every week. So I wanted to participate in as many of the challenges as I can this week. The first challenge is a bingo challenge. Here's my card.

This is a Bugaboo image called Cute Bear Balloon. I colored him with Bic and Copic markers and accented him with Burgundy Stickles. The papers are from a Simon Says Kit. I used a double scallop die for the border and attached it to a piece of green card stock. I inked around the image with chocolate chip ink. The sentiment is from Hero Arts and cut with Spellbinder's hearts and backed with a red cardstock heart. I embellished the sentiment with dots of Burgundy Stickles. I used the bingo column of bling (Stickles), scallops, and animal.
I am entering these challenges:

• Bugaboo 5th birthday bingo challenge: bling, scallops and animal
• Hiding in my Craft Room: color it
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: anything goes

Sadly my Colts are losing big time. They don't look like they came to play. We'll hope for better next year! Thanks for stopping by. Hope your week will get off to a great start! 

Donna

Outlawz CAS Challenge

Happy Sunday! And welcome to another CAS challenge at the Outlawz. This week we are thinking about holidays but using non-traditional colors for the holiday you choose. If you pick Christmas, choose colors that are not colors you would normally see for Christmas. I chose Valentine's Day and here's my card.

I love the way this card turned out! I die cut Spellbinder's scalloped heart from the blue card stock. Then I cut another scalloped heart from a scrap from my scrap box  and added that inside the background die cut. The sentiment is from Create with TLC and I cut it from a tag die. Then inked the tag and added faux stitching around the tag. I mounted the tag on a piece of ribbon. To finish the card I added some blue colored rhinestones.

And I have more exciting news about the CAS challenge. This past week Colleen asked me to be come a member of the design team rather than just a guest designer for the month. I am really excited about this opportunity. It's been a while since I've been on a team so I am looking forward to creating more!

I hope you will join us this week at the Outlawz for this fun challenge. Someone will win a $10 gift certificate of their choice that is being donated by one of our lovely design team. And please pop over to see the designs from my other teamies. They are incredible! Such talent!

I am entering these challenges:

• Party Time Tuesday: anything goes
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: it's a guy thing
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

My Colts are playing for the championship today. While most think they don't have a chance against the Patriots I hope we they can be on their A game and do great! Go Colts! I'll definitely be watching. Hope your Sunday is fabulous. I'm hoping for more crafting time so maybe I'll get in another post today.

Donna

Outlawz Progressive Challenge

Happy Saturday! Last weekend visiting my FIL I had some time to make some scrap backgrounds. This is another one of backgrounds I made. And to it I added the image that was the freebie for the Outlawz Progressive challenge.

I inked the edges of the white card base with Mowed Lawn distress ink. The background is just scraps punched with my square punched and glued to a scrap piece of card stock. I added a sentiment banner to complete the card. I left it pretty simple to show off the background.
I am entering these challenges:

• Outlawz Progressive challenge: use the image
• ABC Christmas Challenge: A is for anything goes
• Christmas Cards All Year Round: anything goes
• CRAFT challenge: Christmas
• Crafty Hazelnut Extra challenge: anything goes

I have a three day weekend with Martin Luther King Day on Monday but Monday is my day of service. I'll be working several hundred Girl Scouts on various service projects. I think my project will be helping the girls make 250 woven heart baskets for Meals on Wheels. There are lots of other projects going on too. I hope your weekend can be partly crafty and party useful to helping others. Thanks for stopping by.

Donna

Life is Good

It was cold today but tomorrow we may actually get above freezing. And Saturday could possibly be 49 degrees. Life is good! We are so blessed. My card tonight is all about the good life; at least for one little mouse!

The image is pre-colored from Doodle Pantry. The background paper is also from Doodle Pantry. I
used the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches.

For the embellishments I used 3 gray buttons and some ribbon, tied with a knot. I don;t use gray very much but I think this turned out pretty cute. The image is cut with Spellbinders Beaded Ovals and backed with the gray card stock.

I am entering these challenges:

• Tuesday Morning Sketches: use the sketch
• Doodle Pantry Ants in my Pants challenge: milk product and use buttons/brads
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

I hope you have a warm up in your future too. Many thanks for stopping by and thanks for leaving a comment and letting me know what you think. Enjoy the rest of the week!

Donna

Warmer Winter

Happy Monday! We dodged a bullet with the storm. We had a little ice here and there but it wasn't too bad. It could have been much worse. But I was in a winter mood tonight so that's what my card is all about.

Over the weekend, I was away from home and I couldn't drag all my card making supplies with me so I took some scraps from my scrap box and my square punch and I made some backgrounds for cards. I got this idea from Beccy's Place. This one was made from all blue winter paper and I had the perfect new set from From the Heart Stamps Stamp of the Month Little Snowman to play with. Love the sentiment and that little snowman is just adorable. I inked the sentiment with two colors of distress ink: peacock feathers and salty ocean. I colored the snowman with Copic markers and embellished it with Crystal Stickles. I left it pretty simple so the scrap background would be really apparent.

I am entering these challenges:

• From the Heart Stamp of the Month: use Little Snowman set
• Simon Says: something new (Little Snowman Stamp of the Month)
• Hiding in my Craft Room: super scraps
• Cupcake Inspiration: snow friends
• Sentimental Sunday: winter sparkle
• Sweet 'n Sassy: use something new

Thanks for stopping by. We are headed back for the deep freeze this week so I hope you are staying warm. Make it an awesome week!

Donna

More Numbers

I was going to update yesterday's post with my second card but I decided to just make another post. Being the guest designer for the Outlawz CAS challenge has been a blast. This week we are using numbers on our projects. Here is my second card for the challenge.

I cut a circle from the card, the purple layer and the background number paper. I embossed the Stampin' Up! stamp on the purple layer with white embossing powder and fixed it on the inside of the card to show through the window. I added the orange scallop around the window. Pretty easy! I like it! I am entering this card into the Seize the Birthday challenge.
If you are in the path of this winter storm that moving through our area, I hope you stay safe. Make it an awesome new week.

Donna

What's the Number?

I am back this week for another week as the guest designer for the Outlawz CAS challenge. This week the challenge is all about numbers. I actually made two cards this week. I thought my first card wasn't very CAS so I made a second card. Here's the first one that I made.

This card I made for my son, Dan. He's a sports nut but especially football.  And we are both Indianapolis Colts fans. Number 12 is Andrew Luck, the quarterback for the Colts, and Dan wears his jersey. This digital set is from Imagine That! digital stamps. The set comes with the images, sentiments and the number set. I added the numbers to the t-shirt. The backgrounds papers are from a digital paper set from Imagine That! that goes with this football digital set. It's colored with Copic markers in Colts colors of course. I used the Tuesday Morning sketch challenge.

This was a fun card to put together! The football set is for the progressive challenge at Imagine That!
I am entering these challenges:

• Imagine That! Stamp of the Month: use the football set
• Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch
• Artistic Impressions: anything goes with new twist (new digital stamp set and paper set)

I was going to show you my second card, but realized that I used my old computer for that card. So I will update this post when I get home tomorrow. Stay tuned for my second card.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Stay warm out there and safe.

Donna

Make Your Own Background

Happy Weekend! Baby, it's cold outside. It hurts to breathe when you are outside. I had to go back to the doctor today. I've had an infection since shortly after Thanksgiving. I've been on 3 rounds on antibiotics but according to today's test I still have the infection. So I am starting another round of more powerful antibiotics that lasts for 14 days. Ugh! Cross your fingers that this will work this time.

My card tonight is a card that I made with distress ink and a water mister. And I used a new technique that I saw on a video.

The Thanks die that I used is from Simon Says Stamps. I inked the watercolor paper with different colors of distress ink. And then I misted the paper with some water and left it dry. I cut the thanks die from the water color paper and then cut 4 other layers of thanks to pop it up from the card, using the colored layer for the top to match the background. It's a little tedious layering the die layers but I love the finished product.
I am entering these challenges:

• Outlawz Saturday challenge: make your own background
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Love to Create: anything goes

I hope you are staying warm wherever you are. Hopefully it will warm up again soon. Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by.

Donna

You've Caught my Heart

Today was definitely a winter day. We had a dusting of snow this morning but we have 1-3 inches coming in tonight. So I must have been in a wintry mood tonight because that was the direction my card took.

The image is from DeeDee's Digi Stamps and is free this month. If you use the image you get the next free set in February. I love the image and the sentiment is part of the set also. I cut the image from Law Fawn's stitched banner die and used a Simon Says tag die. On the background I used a Simon Says snowflake stencil and inked around the stencil to create the background. I added some ric rac through the banner. I really like the way this one turned out. Hope you like it too.

I  am entering these challenges:

• Deedee's January challenge: stamp of the month
• Friday Mashup: snowflakes
• Outlawz Saturday challenge: make your own background

Be sure to check out the free digi set at Deedee's blog and the special offer she has. Happy Monday to you all! Thanks for stopping by to see what I am up to. Travel safely and stay warm. And make it an awesome week!

Donna

Happy New Year

Happy Sunday evening. It's snowing here although I don;t think we are supposed to get a lot of accumulation. We haven't had much snow yet so I wouldn't mind a little snow. With my MIL passing away there are some people that I wasn't able to send a Christmas card to, so I thought I would make some New Year cards to send.

This image is from Sliekje Digital Stamps. I colored the image with Copics (B14, R27 and E20). The New Year banner is from Beyond the Fringe Crafts and colored with the same Copic colors. The plaid background paper is digital by Jak Heath. Very quick and easy.

I am entering these challenges:

• Pile it On: use digit paper or pre-colored image
• Cupcake Inspiration: color challenge: sky, rose and blush
• Hiding in my Craft Room: pinks
• Outlawz Monday challenge: Happy New Year

That's it for tonight.  I didn't get as much done today as I had hoped since I did a lot of cooking this morning. Makes me feel good to get a head start on the week but I wanted to get more done with card making. Oh well, back to work tomorrow. Hope you have the most awesome week!

Donna

Exciting News!

The reason for me to practice making clean and simple cards is because I've been asked to be the guest designer for the CAS challenge at Outlawz for the month of January. I am beyond excited about the invitation. So today is the first CAS challenge of 2015 and they are asking you to use washi tape.

I made another anniversary card for my brother and his wife (Hi Rick and Judy!). I used a sentiment from one happy little crafter. I cut three hearts with Spellbinder's classic heart dies on a white 4 inch x 5 1/4 inch sheet. I cut a 4 1/8 x 5 3/8 inch red layer and added several different patterns of washi tape. I pop dotted the the die cut layer over the red layer and added some sequins as embellishments. CAS here I come.  I hope you will try the washi tape challenge over at the Outlawz. Lots of fun! Stop by and see all the different ways the design team used the washi tape. It's amazing!

I am entering these challenges:

• Hiding in My Craft Room: pink
• Lil Patch challenge: anything goes
• Never Before Used Schtuff (NBUS) challenge: anything goes (new package of sequins never used)

Check out the washi tape challenge at the Outlawz. Have a wonderful Sunday. Thanks for stopping by.

Donna

Working on CAS

Happy Saturday! I've never felt like I was very good at CAS cards so I wanted to practice a little bit. So today I made this card.

I used a Doodle Pantry image called Fireworks Birdie. I used Spellbinder's Classic Squares to cut out the window and the used the same Classic Square and Lacy Squares to make the border around the window. I embossed the sentiment from Gina K's Lazy Days of Summer with gold embossing powder. How's that for CAS? I read that you were supposed to leave lots of white space in a CAS Card. Well mine wound up being lots of red space. I hope that counts.
I am entering these challenges:

• Outlawz Sunday challenge: fireworks
• Crazy 4 challenge: clean and simple
• Seize the Birthday: party

I am headed back to my desk for more crafting. I can't believe I have this much time on my weekend to get cards done. Thanks for stopping by. Happy weekend!

Donna

Beside You

Happy weekend! I had to go back to work today but one day and then the weekend is good with me. I'm hoping to have lots of crafting time this weekend but I have to watch my Colts on Sunday at 1pm. Go Colts!

I have two brothers who were married very close to each other date-wise: one at the end of December and one at the beginning of January. So for both cards I used the same sentiment. Here is the first card.

I embossed the background with a foliage embossing folder. I cut the banner panel from Lawn Fawn's Stitched Party Banners. The sentiment is from One Happy Little Crafter. The images are from A Year of Flowers from Gina K. I colored the roses with Copic Markers after embossing them with black embossing powder. I added some sheer ribbon in the banner panel. I am entering these challenges:

• Stamping Boutique challenge: spring inspired
• 613 Avenue Create: anything goes
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

Back to my desk to get more creating time in. Thanks for stopping and I hope your weekend is awesome. Be sure to check back later this weekend for more fun projects.

Donna